Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve social mobility among young people.

Alongside education, employment plays a crucial role in helping to improve social mobility among young people.

The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This includes more intensive support early in their Universal Credit claim, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.

Our Work Coaches support young people’s individual aspirations, identify and help address skills gaps and wider barriers to entering work or progressing in their careers. They are supported by a network of dedicated Jobcentre Plus outreach leads specialising in areas including support for young care leavers or who – in the case of our support for schools’ advisers – are helping young people in schools in disadvantaged areas develop successful career pathways.

Spring Budget confirmed that the Youth Offer will be extended to the end of the Parliament and – from Autumn – will be expanded so more young Universal Credit claimants can access this dedicated support.

DWP is a strong champion for social mobility and has met with the Social Mobility Commission and celebrated National Social Mobility Awareness Day. Alongside this, DWP has established the Social Mobility Pledge Consortium in partnership with Talk Talk.

The pledge asks businesses to make measurable commitments to diversify the backgrounds of their workforce and help vulnerable people progress. We celebrated some of the achievements our nearly 120 employer signatories have made over the last year at a national conference at the Tottenham Hotspur football stadium on Tuesday 20th June.